


Starting Over

by Merlinda_Dragon



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merlinda_Dragon/pseuds/Merlinda_Dragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Adamant, Cullen and Kira start over after not seeing each other in ten years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting Over

Warden-Commander Kira Surana stood on a low hill above the main campsite, looking up at the stars.  Everything that had happened at Adamant seemed too much to take.  It couldn’t have been real.  But it was—she knew it was.  Corypheus was free, and he was going to attempt to rip the Veil apart to reach what he had been denied in ancient times.  And to advance the Calling within the Wardens... she was certain it was an attempt to get them out of the way so he could raise his Old God.  Not Dumat—Dumat had been killed at the end of the First Blight—but there were still the two that remained.  She didn’t look forward to the idea of another Blight so soon after the last one.  And with Clarel dead, she was the only Warden of any significant rank in the far South.  She wrapped her arms around herself.  There would be a lot of explaining to do to the Chamberlain of the Grey and, by extension, to the First Warden, and it wasn’t a letter she looked forward to writing.

She heard the footsteps approaching hesitantly, only for them to stop a few feet behind her.  It was almost strange how she could still recognize them, even after ten years.  They were surer than they had been in the tower, even in hesitancy, but the gait was the same.  “I’m not going to summon any demons,” she said.  “There are too many of them in the world as it is.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

She lowered her face from the heavens and tilted her head to look over her shoulder out of the corner of her eye.  “Am I to be kept in custody?”

“The Inquisitor hasn’t mentioned it to me.  If that was his plan, I would think you’d be in chains already.”

“I see.”

“You and your Wardens are allies of the Inquisition now.  I doubt you’ll be tried as a criminal.  Erimond, on the other hand...”

“Erimond deserves to die for what he’s done to the Order, and I will kill him myself if I get my hands on him.”  She sighed.  “Allies of the Inquisition… a bolster to the army.  That means we’ll report to you, Knight Commander?”

“That is not my title,” he told her.  “I am no longer a templar.”

Kira’s eyebrows lifted, but she didn’t turn around.  “You left?”

“I did.  I was in Kirkwall during the mage uprising.  I saw firsthand the devastation it caused.  I was recruited into the Inquisition, and left the Order to serve.”

“Just ‘Commander,’ then.”

“Yes.”

She nodded.  “Very well.”

A long silence stretched between them.  She could feel his eyes on her back, but she didn’t turn.  A soft breeze blew by them, bringing with it the smell of the Inquisition’s campfires.

“Do you agree with the decision?” she asked.

“Which decision is that?”

“That we are allied with you and not exiled to Weisshaupt.”

“The Grey Warden presence has been felt within the ranks.  The Wardens still command a great deal of respect, despite recent occurrences.  I believe the alliance will prove valuable in the long run, though we will monitor the mages carefully for corruption, of course.”

Her brows dropped and a surge of bitter anger swept through her.  “A templar at every door, then?” she asked venomously.  “A sword constantly at our necks in case we show even the slightest inkling of possession?  Why not just wield the brand and put us through a fate worse than death?”

“I doubt that will be necessary.”

She sighed heavily and turned to face him then.  He was still standing a respectful distance from her, his stance easy, his hands resting on the pommel of his sword.  But there was tension in his face, a nervous strain around his eyes and in his jaw.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “That was unworthy of me.  This is difficult enough for you... I know you never wanted to see me again.”

“I wouldn’t say that, precisely.”

“Then what _would_ you say, Commander?”

He stared at her for several long moments before the tension eased from his face and a small smile curled the corners of his lips.  “Hello, Kira.”

She smiled a little.  “Hello, Cullen.”


End file.
